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(List D refers to Richard’s List D
Vineeto’s Correspondence with DJ on Discuss Actualism Forum
DJ: While recently contemplating hopes and dreams for my life (and the ensuing fears of those hopes/ dreams not being realised) I stumbled upon what I felt to be the linchpin for this complex… the fear that if the instincts driving those hopes and dreams were eliminated, I may make what “I” deem to be “bad decisions”, or fail to take action towards those once held hopes and dreams. I see the circular logic is faulty since if the hopes and dreams were eliminated then the future “me” would likely have no negative response to them not being realised. VINEETO: Hi Dj, Do you have any hands-on, practical experience with applying the actualism method or are those “hopes and dreams” and the consequent “fear”, which you consider “the linchpin for this complex” that you will “fail to take action towards those once held hopes and dreams” are merely the result of armchair philosophising in a vacuum? Do you realise that by taking no action (i.e. act) in regards to getting closer to those “hopes and dreams” of becoming actually free by applying the actualism method, you have already failed “to take action towards those once held hopes and dreams”? Your “circular logic” only serves to justify doing nothing. DJ: Furthermore when trying to contemplate what life might be like without my goals and dreams in place, my mind projected an empty dreary future, devoid of colour. I recognise this may be a defence mechanism of the identity to keep the status quo, but it seems like what underpins this is a distrust of the actual world. VINEETO: If your ‘contemplation’ (meaning: “deep, reflective thought or focused observation”) has only resulted in projecting “an empty dreary future, devoid of colour”, thereby demonstrating your obvious and ongoing ignorement/ ignoration of Richard’s descriptions of being actually free on The Actual Freedom Trust website, then your “defence mechanism of the identity” is presently so powerful that you are unable to even establish a sensible Prima Facie Case for an actual freedom from the human condition by reading with at least one eye open, if not both eyes open –
DJ: This context is leading to my question which is, without
having had a PCE nor being able to remember one, how can I find/ develop a trust the actual world and allow myself to
see the redundancy in hanging on to my feelings / instincts / hopes/ dreams etc. VINEETO: It is this simple – as long as you are projecting “an empty dreary future, devoid of colour” when you read the words “an actual freedom from the human condition” or “a temporary abeyance of the identity” then the last thing you want is to experience, or remember, a PCE. And here endeth the case for the defence of ‘me’, the all-powerful, all-convincing, always-right identity – ergo there is no need to change anything. May I ask, why do you write to this actualist forum when you have such an iron-clad case for your “distrust of the actual world”? Do you expect others to change your mind for you? If you are genuinely looking for some factual information for a change try browsing the index and content of the 32
“Commonly Raised Objections”
DJ: Hi Vineeto, thanks for your reply. Yes I do have practical hands-on experience in applying the method, and have had some success with examining and dispelling beliefs and their corresponding emotional responses over the years. I am not armchair philosophising in a vacuum, I’m attempting to look at the hold outs I have as an identity. VINEETO: (…) DJ: The hopes and dreams I was referring to in my original post were the kind of hopes and dreams referenced in your “how to investigate feelings” article – those relating to things like material success in life, finding the perfect partner etc. The circular pattern I was referring to was that of me as an identity fearing for example, not getting what “I” want, as it pertains to real world goals / dreams… and as a result being wary of letting go of those hopes and dreams for fear of them not happening the way that “I” want – and not being able to fully reconcile that by letting go of them, the future “me” won’t care whether they are realised or not. VINEETO: Hi Dj, Thank you for the clarifications. I don’t really see a problem – if you are “wary of letting go of those hopes and dreams”, then don’t let go of them, keep them. You will find out in the process of your pursuit of “material success in life, finding the perfect partner” what happens. Being in hypothetical fear of a hypothetical future, which may or may not happen as you imagine, is a sheer waste of time. * VINEETO: If your ‘contemplation’ (meaning: “deep, reflective thought or focused observation”) has only resulted in projecting “an empty dreary future, devoid of colour”, thereby demonstrating your obvious and ongoing ignorement/ ignoration of Richard’s descriptions of being actually free on The Actual Freedom Trust website, then your “defence mechanism of the identity” is presently so powerful that you are unable to even establish a sensible Prima Facie Case for an actual freedom from the human condition by reading with at least one eye open, if not both eyes open – (…) DJ: I have accepted the prima facie case as being valid. Nowhere have I dismissed the method or the goal of actualism as not valid. The empty dreary future was just something my mind projected out seemingly reflexively, and while I know feelings are not facts, I clearly have some work to do in examining that further. I wouldn’t say I have an “iron clad case” for distrusting the actual world – it’s just a fear that came up. VINEETO: So you are saying that the “empty dreary future” was a projected future as a feeling ‘being’ after having somehow banished the “hopes and dreams”? It sounds as if you are in dire need to re-read the ‘instruction manual’ – This Moment of Being Alive The use of the actualism method has also been discussed here on the forum (see Actualvineeto-SC/Actualism Method If, as you say, it was only “just a fear that came up”, then what is preventing you from feeling good right now? And before you contemplate about what you determine to be the trigger for a diminishment in feeling good, first get back to feeling good.
DJ: Maybe a better question would be, in lieu of not having had
a PCE that I can remember, how can I rememorate one – was there something that Richard did specifically that allowed him to help others to
access their experiences? VINEETO: Try this link (Sundry, FAQ, No. 64 “How Do I Induce a PCE?”
DJ: Upon reading Alan & Dona’s Questions to Richard &
Vineeto page It seems with beliefs that the phrasing is quite particular to each individual in terms of what will make sense or not. For example, “life is a vale of tears”, or “I didn’t ask to be born” didn’t click so much for me, as the phrasing “life sucks”. So I start dissecting this belief – does life suck in general for everybody, or just for me. Does it suck all the time for me, or only sometimes? What do I specifically mean by “life sucks” … Surely my life doesn’t actually suck; on the whole my life circumstances are quite positive and favourable, so what I really mean is that despite those favourable life circumstances, I still don’t feel consistently as good as I would like/ expect to. Well, this is very different from a vague and seemingly absolute statement that life sucks. So now we are back to something which is actionable – I can get back to feeling good and maintain that minimum standard for myself. I think back to times when I was feeling good or great and I remember what is possible in this life. Now the resentment seems to hold less weight. It’s like one of the table legs of belief that
holds that worldview up has been removed and the whole structure becomes more shaky. VINEETO: Hi Dj, I appreciate your foray into resentment – in your case framed as “life sucks” and specified as the experience that “despite those favourable life circumstances, I still don’t feel consistently as good as I would like/ expect to”. Resentment is rather more than a belief – a feeling-backed thought – it is a general attitude to life: if things don’t go my way, the fault lies in ‘them’, the other people, the world, the weather or general circumstances. This automatic self-centric perception is part and parcel of every identity in varying degrees – just think of a helpless baby equipped with only instinctual feelings and passions needing to express, and having fulfilled, their essential survival needs. It’s the primary template/ attitude out of which the identity forms itself. To become aware of this primal attitude, and then experientially recognize that it is detrimental to your wellbeing by preventing you from enjoying and appreciating being alive requires not only an overall conceptual rational consideration but, because it is a long-standing habit, requires paying affective attention to whenever it occurs, in order to replace this habit with its opposite – appreciation [antonym: depreciation]. Of course, I am not talking about faking feeling good as a superficial antidote but that by becoming aware of what is happening and remembering your sincere intent to feeling good more consistently and being as benign and harmless as much as possible you will be able to shift your very attitude in the other direction each time it occurs. It may not always be easy because you notice that most people around you find it ‘cool’ to be indifferent, sneering, complaining and fault-finding, so you have to instead rely on your own experiential conviction that resentment does not make you a happy and harmless person. That means whenever you notice an attitude of resentment, of depreciation, of indifference to the world happening, then actively increase your enjoyment of being alive, by “adding value”, “cherishing”, marvelling and living in wide-eyed wonder regarding your enjoyment of being alive, i.e. by appreciating and deeply contemplating the wondrousness and mirificence of the world around, including one’s fellow human beings. When you take a walk outside, notice the friendliness of the air on your skin, the vast expanse
of the sky above, the delightful sounds of lapping water and/or twittering birds, the sun glittering on reflective
surfaces, the wind gracefully moving the grass back and forth, and perhaps even the fact that matter is not merely
passive. The very appreciation of the marvellous wonders of the world we live in is the best antidote to resentment
(see also
Vineeto’s & Richard’s Text ©The Actual
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